Why Freedom Capital Views Shift4 Payments as an Attractive Buy Amid Leadership Changes and Global Blue Integration

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) is one of the best FinTech stocks to buy in 2026.

Freedom Capital Markets initiated coverage on Shift4 Payments on December 11 at Buy with an $80 price target. The firm’s analyst called Shift4 a leading integrated payments and SaaS platform across verticals such as restaurants, hospitality, and stadiums, while noting the stock’s recent slump. In its note, Freedom tied that underperformance to a mix of leadership changes, management’s mixed-macro commentary with choppy same-store sales trends, and lingering skepticism around the company’s Global Blue acquisition.

Even so, the analyst argued the setup looks attractive after the pullback, acknowledging execution risk on Global Blue but leaning on management’s M&A history and the embedded cross-sell opportunity in payments. Freedom also framed its valuation around 9x its 2026 estimated adjusted EBITDA of $1.25 billion, landing at the $80 target.

In other news, Shift4 said on December 3, 2025, that its subsidiaries priced a €435 million tack-on offering of 5.500% senior notes due 2033 at an issue price of 102.50%, with an expected close on December 8, 2025. The company said net proceeds are intended for general corporate purposes, including debt repayment, strategic acquisitions, growth initiatives, and potential share repurchases.

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) is a payments and commerce technology company that enables businesses to accept card payments and manage transactions across multiple channels, serving merchants in industries such as hospitality, restaurants, and large-scale venues.

While we acknowledge the potential of FOUR to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than FOUR and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None.